Chapter 5
Karen had fallen asleep after the doctor's had examined her. She was tired from vomiting all morning and could use the rest. Jack, however, was fully awake and could hardly sit still in the seat next to the bed. He had her hand clasped tightly in his and he wouldn't go anywhere. He hadn't left her side since the paramedics had arrived back at the Penthouse.

The door to Karen's hospital room opened and in walked a very beautiful blonde. She had on a doctor's jacket and the folder holding all of Karen's medical records. She smiled at Jack and sat down on the other side of Karen.

"Hi, I'm Angel Donovan. I deliver babies here at the hospital and monitor woman through their pregnancies." She introduced herself to Jack, who was taken aback by her beauty. He was surprised that a woman as pretty as she would be a doctor. She smiled at him. "I heard from the doctors that she was pregnant and was going to need some special looking out for, so I came to talk to her."

"Yes, sorry, I'm Jack McFarland. I'm her friend." He smiled back at her.

"Oh, well is the father coming?" Dr. Donovan asked.

"No, he doesn't know she's pregnant. They're divorcing." Jack said, his gaze going back to Karen's beautiful face, watching her as she slept.

"Oh, I see." There was a pause; Angel was a bit surprised that this man who was so committed to this woman wasn't even her husband.

"Hey, Kare," Jack sat up and whispered, trying to get her to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him, a faint smile apparent on her face. "Hey beautiful, Dr. Donovan's here to talk to you." He said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm just going to slip out for a second and call Grace, make up an excuse for your absence." Jack knew Karen hadn't told her yet and he didn't want to be the one to tell her.

Karen nodded and then looked over at Dr. Donovan. She realized Dr. Donovan was a woman. "You can call me Angel." She said, shaking her blonde hair from her eyes after Jack had left. Karen found her rather attractive and felt very unattractive lying on the hospital bed. "Well, it appears you are pregnant. Do you have any idea how far along you are?" Angel asked, getting right down to the questions. She opened up the folder she was holding and readied her pin.

"How," Karen's voice was still sleepy sounding, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "How would I know?"

"Well, when was the last time you had sexual intercourse ending with penetration?" Angel asked so maturely.

Karen bit her lip to keep from laughing, having never had to answer a question like that before. "Um, well," Karen thought about it for a minute. The last time she had had sex was with Lyle the night before the wedding. "A month ago." She responded.

"Alright, date of your last menstrual cycle?"

"Also a month ago."

"Did you skip?" Angel looked up.

"Yeah, but I didn't think anything of it." Karen sighed. "It was this second time I skipped that got me worried."

"Reasonable, do you smoke?"

"Quit, a couple of years ago." Karen smiled.

"Do you drink?"

"Yes." Karen felt ashamed, for the first time, of that answer.

"How often?" She had to pry, didn't she? Karen frowned.

"I'm not sure. I would say quite often."

"Have you had an alcoholic beverage other then wine since the conception of your child?"

Karen had never thought of it as her child. It sounded weird. "Yes, I didn't know." Karen realized that her child could be in danger because of her drinking. She felt horrible.

"Do you take any medication, doctor prescribed or other wise?"

"Yes, but Jack and I rid the Penthouse of pills."

"Well, we'll have to take several tests later on in your pregnancy to make sure the embryo is unharmed by the alcohol and anything else you were taking." Angel felt slightly scared, but she had seen worse off mothers give birth to healthy babies. So she knew there was hope that the baby would be just fine. "Anyway, on with the questions. When was the last time you ate?"

"Um, yesterday morning I had a muffin."

"That's it?" Angel looked at her. She nodded yes. "Well, Karen you know you need to eat more than that. You need to supply the fetus with food. From now on you need to eat a healthy meal at least three to four times a day."

Karen groaned.

"Hey, Jack." Grace's cheerful voice rang over the line. "Do you know where Karen is?"

"Yeah, she's here with me. That's why I called."

"Oh, is she alright?" Grace asked.

"Um, well she's not feeling up to bar right now, you know with the divorce and all. Anyway she asked me to ask you if she could take a few weeks off, you know to deal with the case and what not."

"Of course." Grace sounded worried. "I'll have to come see her sometime. I know she's been awfully down lately."

"Yeah, maybe you should wait awhile though, she is kind of sick."

"Oh, right, of course. Maybe in a few days. Well tell her to call me when she can. I hope she feels better soon."

"Me too," Jack sighed.

"Can you give me any painkillers? Please, I need them. I already have a headache." Karen was pleading with Angel.

"I can give you some but you have to use them wisely. They'll be a bit watered down because to strong a dose can harm the baby, which means no overdosing on them."

"Psh." Karen didn't like being ordered around.

"I'm serious." Angel held a bottle in her hands, twisting it back and fourth in front of Karen.

"Oh, alright, I promise I'll only use them when necessary." Karen rolled her eyes and reached out for them.

"Two for the morning sickness and one for any other ache you might have. That's it. Understood?" Karen nodded her head. "I'm also going to give you some pregnancy supplements, I think you will find quite useful." She handed another bottle to Karen. "I know you're going to have some rough times ahead of you, especially after just dropping everything you've been taking and drinking, but I believe you can make it. Okay? Now, are you ready to go home?"

Karen nodded yes.